Questioning the Dreamer
by gothicsantaclawz
Summary: Why do we dream, surely a simple question can be answered, but some things aren't as simple as they seem... An Arthur/OC pairing fic rated M for content ect.
1. Prologue Questioning Reality

A/N: After watching inception a little while ago I became obsessed with Arthur...I have a thing for guys in formal wear...anyway. This is an Arthur/OC fanfiction because I like having the freedom to completely create a character from scratch. I have rated this fanfiction M because there will be adult content, as well as bad language etc. please Read and review, Criticism is always welcome, so that I can make my story better.

Disclaimer: I don't own inception because if I did...well lets not go there . I don't wanna freak you guys out before you get a chance to read the story.

* * *

**Prologue- Questioning Reality**

"_A Dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world" –Oscar Wilde_

_

* * *

_

I've often wondered why people dream. Some people say that it is a way for whoever watches over us to give us signs. Some believe that dreams symbolize all that our subconscious wants to tell us. And some scientists say that dreams are needed for us to develop our minds, emotions and imaginations…

The few blissful moments when one can escape from the boundaries defined by reality makes it difficult to wake up from the perfection your mind has created for you. In fact it is no surprise that some people find the need to escape the horrors of their lives, the bleak existence that we are forced to live by whatever created mankind. Yes, that is why I believe we dream. To escape, escape from fear, escape from doubt. Escape from death and of course to escape from life.

Perhaps I am just being pessimistic, that life can be so cruel to each individual that we need to create false realities just so that we can live with ourselves. So that we can hope that one day we will wake up and life will magically have improved from all our wishing, our dreaming.

And yet despite the disappointment that one feels when woken up, and the rundown apartment you fell asleep in is no longer the luxurious bedroom you managed to create for yourself and the perfect lover you felt such devotion to has disappeared. You struggle to make it through the day so that come night, you can dream again.


	2. Chapter 1 Better Left Forgotten

A/N: And here is chapter one, see it's over three times the size of the prologue :D this chapter will actually make sense unlike the last one :D Isn't it amazing how three pages on MS Word looks like nothing on fanfiction anyway read and review (or at least enjoy)

Disclaimer: I don't own inception because well because I'm not kool enough ;P

* * *

**Chapter One- Better Left Forgotten**

"_Their memory is like a train, you can see it getting smaller as it pulls away"- Tom Waits_

* * *

Arthur was sitting in an Italian café waiting for Eames and Ariadne. The steaming French vanilla latte released its aroma into the air tempting Arthur to take another sip from the takeaway cup and he did. He tensed slightly at a light hand that touched his shoulder and he turned to see Ariadne smiling at him wrapped up in one of her scarves in an attempt to protect herself from the New York winter.

"You didn't wait for me" Ariadne commented with a slight grin, she had been so excited to hear about 'the team' getting back together for another job.

"Sorry, it seems that Eames decided to tell me to arrive a couple of hours early" Arthur confessed, as he took another sip from the fourth latte he had ordered that day.

"Ahh so you actually listened to me for once, darling" Eames commented pulling up a seat next to Ariadne.

"And how have you two been doing? Cooped up in a hotel room like love birds?" he asked

Arthur and Ariadne looked at each other awkwardly. Ariadne had been completely ready to start a relationship after the Fischer job; however Arthur couldn't find it in himself to commit. Not to mention that whatever feelings Ariadne had been harboring for him had vanished after walking in on him and a young blonde woman that he had picked up from a bar.

"Anyway" Ariadne asked changing the subject, she was only just on talking terms with Arthur since that night and didn't want to make matters worse by confessing just how much he had hurt her "what's the job?"

"Well our client wants us to convince Ronald Parson to sell his company" Eames explained as he reached over the table and grabbed Arthur's latte and curiously sniffed at it.

Arthur grabbed it back pulling a face that showed his distaste.

"Well now, darling, who knew that you had it in you to be so exotic, ordering a French coffee in an Italian café?" Eames laughed

"Do you mean the Parson Company? As in the biggest gold trading company on this side of the globe" Arthur scowled, the typical shut up was left unsaid.

"Won't we need a fourth team member for inception? Is Dom coming back?"Ariadne questioned

"Yusuf is willing to be our chemist but refuses to partake in the dream again. And well, you're not going to like this, darling, "Eames stated looking at Arthur "but…"

The conversation lowered in volume as Eames began to go further in depth in his explanation.

* * *

Sitting up I reached across the bed to turn off the alarm that had pulled me from my slumber. I shivered from the cool layer of sweat that coated my body as I curled up waiting for the pain in my chest to numb to a level that I could live with. Slowly but surely the dull pain faded and I got up and moved towards the bathroom, holding my hand under the running water I waited for it to heat up a bit before stepping into the shower.

Two minutes later the water ran cold and I reluctantly stepped out and wrapped a rugged towel around my body. I knew that the hot water had been cut off to my apartment because I was late in my rent… and my gas bill…as well as my electricity. Unfortunately it was very difficult to find a job when you were on the run from both sides of the law and without any family to turn to.

Deciding to skip breakfast considering the milk in the fridge was off and I was almost certain that a rat had been in my cereal box I left my apartment room in search of a short day job that would pay in cash with no questions asked.

* * *

"No" Arthur stated in a pained voice

"Darling, I've done a bit of research into Parson and his subconscious is so heavily guarded if we go into his dreams without an empathizer we will be shot down in minutes…if not less" Eames argued

"Then why agree to take on the job?"Arthur spat at him

Eames sighed taking a drink from the sarsaparilla he had so cleverly snuck into the posh café

"It was a do or die, darling, if we pull this off we will find ourselves as very rich gentlemen, refuse or fail and we will be on the run from the most powerful man I have ever met. And that is saying something because I'm pretty sure that I've met a lot of powerful people from the heights of society whilst being in this profession" Eames explained

"I'm not ready to up and leave my life Arthur" Ariadne told him, begging for him to just accept the job offer, after all what could be so bad about getting a new member on the team?

Arthur sighed in defeat.

* * *

Striking luck I managed to find a small bar that was in need of a cleaner for the day. They were willing to pay $200 for my days work but wouldn't pay me until my job was done to their standards. I agreed immediately and set to work straight away. Although the two hundred wasn't a lot it would cover my $80 gas bill and I could put the rest towards my rent and hopefully keep the land lord off my back for a little bit longer until I managed to find another job. After I was done I set off home and sighed contentedly at the cash that was now weighing down my pocket.

I allowed my mind to wonder back to the dream I had last night.

_It's always the same, a dark haired stranger holding me closely. We're both crying but I can never remember why, his grip tightens and I can feel the desperation in his embrace. And then one thing becomes certain, I am going to lose this man, I never know how or when but I know that soon I will never see his handsome face again. Am I dying? No that can't be right. Perhaps he is going to war? That could be it. I look back up at him as he kisses me one last time. And then I wake up…_

I must admit that I find it annoying; not knowing what is causing this dream. I always wake up with the same pain wrenching at my heart, to the point where I feel nauseas when I try to move. Sighing as I reached for the doorknob to my apartment I slid my key into the lock only to stop. The door had been unlocked, even though I remember double checking the door before I left this morning. I grabed a pocket knife from my jacket to arm myself with; this hasn't been the first attempt on my life. I have been arrested by police and held by the Mafia (or some version of a criminal group) In fact I amaze myself with my ability to find a way out of sticky situations, just like this one.

Pushing the door open slowly I jumped in and attacked the first person I saw. It was a woman; she had brown hair that she was wearing out. Her hair flows around her, bits of it clinging to the brightly colored scarf that hung around her neck. The next thing I knew I was holding her against the wall my knife at her throat and there was a gun pointed to the back of my head.

"A lovely entrance darling, if I do say so, But I'm going to have to ask you let poor Ariadne go now" A man exclaimed

Slowly I released the girl who was holding her hands up in a sigh of surrender, a horrified expression on her face, and turned around to face the man holding the gun. I felt like I knew this man despite never seeing him before in my life.

"Who do you work for?" I asked, I wish I knew what I that made these people came after me, and then maybe I could do something about it and get back on with my life.

"Me"

I turn to the voice and feel my eyes widen in shock, my head starts to feel light and I see black spots in my vision

"You?" I manage to choke out and I see the dark haired stranger walking towards me hands outstretched as if he was trying to stop me from falling, _silly man_ I think _I'm not falling_ and then my consciousness fades.


	3. Chapter 2 Memories Of A Dreamer

A/N: Okay so this is the second chapter (three uploads in one night... I'm on a role) So I just realised that I haven't even described my oc or given her a name o.o wow I really suck, Don't worry now that I have realised that I will get onto it straight away :D I'm going to do chapter three in 3rd person but from Arthurs point of veiw (does that make sense...probably not but in my defence i am so tired right now i practically falling asleep while I type) I think and maybe let you in on some more details on unnamed oc's past ;P umm so cause I suck at naming people (seriously all my sims are called bob or Luna .) hows about you give me suggestions for her name that I can take into consideration. Also another thing I realised (whilst busily looking up small facts about our characters) Is that Arthur doesn't have an age o.O so I'm going to say that Arthur is 25 and unnamed oc is 23. So yeah read and review (even if it's just a name that I can use... cause I really need help with that)

Disclaimer: I don't own inception because the gods aren't on my side v.v but I wish I did ;P

* * *

**Chapter two -Memories of a dreamer**

"_Our dreams must be stronger than our __memories__. We must be pulled by our dreams, rather than pushed by our __memories__." – Jesse Jackson_

* * *

_I am dead, yes that must be it. The man with the gun must have shot me. I float peacefully through the darkness trying to find the source of a loud ticking noise that is the only thing keeping me awake._

_Tick tock tick tock_

"_I feel like Alice in wonderland" I giggle to myself_

_Slowly I begin to drift towards a glowing light, it is warm but I feel no happiness as I get closer to it. A pain in my chest grows and grows and as the light engulfs me I cry out in pain._

"_Shh, love, it's alright" He murmurs to me_

_I know he is trying to be strong for me, hide his own pain so that my pain won't double in size, but he cannot hide the fresh tears that are dripping onto my shirt._

"_No it's not" I stutter barely able to talk due to the agony that is ripping my heart out. "It's not Arthur, He's gone…dead. I don't know…"_

"_Shh" he silences my cries again and pulls me even closer into his embrace _

"_Just go to sleep, when you wake up it will all be better" he tells me_

_I pull out my token and open it. Like always in reality the pocket watches hands are completely missing and instead of numbers bold letters state the phrase I used to think solved everything "_Take a leap of faith, trust in where life takes you, Have no regrets"_._

"_You keep saying that Arthur, but, every time I fall asleep I only ever have nightmares" I reply._

_He reaches over the bed and pulls out the IV that connects to the dream machine, I don't even move as he sticks the IV into me and then an identical one into himself. I've known that this would come that one day he would be so concerned with the overwhelming depression that has overtaken me that he would do this. I close my eyes, hell I've have even wished for this at times_

"_Goodbye Arthur" I tell him as he reaches over to push the button that will release the sedative and allow him to destroy my memory._

"_I will miss you, love"…_

* * *

Tick tock, tick tock…

I opened my eyes and came face to face with an analog clock. After looking around the room from where I was lying I decided that I was in an apartment, a very posh apartment.

"So you restored her memory, darling, that's nice. Are you sure that she's not going to go all catatonic on us now?" A familiar voice rings through the air

"I didn't choose to restore her memory, Eames, She's doing it herself" I heard Him say

"Eames" I managed to croak out, my throat felt raw like I had been screaming for hours, both men rush to my side "Sod off"

Eames snorted turned on his heel

"Alright, darling, but don't go making out with Arthur just yet, he's become quite the stick in the mud during your absence and I doubt he could handle the excitement" Eames laughed as he walked into another room.

"Arthur" I addressed him unsure what to say, my memory was back but it wasn't like I had lived it instead it was more like a nightmare, a horribly depressing nightmare that I was glad to have woken up from.

Arthur opened his mouth then shut it again as if he changed his mind about what he was going to say.

"How much do you remember?" he asked after a moment of hesitation

"Little bits here and there, as well as what happened" I explained,

I had no idea how to act, or what to say. Here sitting in front of me was the man that I had dreamed about for the past two years. A man that I could, although only vaguely, remember spending nights of passion with as well as promising my heart, body and soul to, even if it wasn't ever proved on paper. The same man that in a desperate attempt to save me from pain cut off all his connections to me as well as destroying my memory of what we had.

"I'm sorry" he told me in a whisper

I looked up at from my hands, which were currently fiddling with the blankets on the bed I was lying on, and noticed the pained expression on his face

"No you're not, not really, I mean if it wasn't for your quick thinking I would have lost myself. Arthur you saved me from myself, despite the pain that it caused you. No regrets, okay?" I was the one to blame, not Arthur, It was me who had over reacted and lost faith in everything. It was me that caused the grief that we were both still feeling.

Arthur looked at me in surprise.

"Okay, no regrets, where do we go from here?" He asked me

I smiled at him

"I say we act naturally and see what happens" I raised my hand a put it on his cheek. It had been so long, two years, since I had been able to actually touch him, feel his actual presence instead of the ghost of his memory.

"I fell in love with you once, Arthur, It's very possible that I could fall in love with you again" I told him

He smirked at me and held the hand I had put on his cheek he lent over me so that his lips were almost touching my ear.

"Well I had better hold back some more then, love, Because If I were acting normally I would be fucking you into the wall as we speak" he whispered to me, I could hear the lust in his voice.

He dropped something heavy into my lap and then got up and walked out of the room not even looking back at me as he left. Which I was particularly grateful for, considering he left me gaping like a fish out of water with a prominent blush across my face. I hadn't been intimate with anyone, not even Arthur, since the incident nearly two and a half years ago.

After taking a few moments to collect myself I looked down at my lap and picked up the aged pocket watch. After opening it to check that I wasn't dreaming I walked out of the room Arthur left me in and into what appeared to be the living room Arthur wasn't there but Eames and the girl I had attacked earlier were sitting and going over some paper work.

"Oh good you're up, darling" Eames commented giving me a smile

"Are you alright you were screaming quite a bit a while back while you were unconscious" The girl looked up at me with concern

"Oh, I'm fine I was just reliving umm" I was unsure how to put it, It still didn't feel realistic.

"Memories" Eames offered up a knowing look on his face

"A nightmare" I told them "Oh and umm sorry about before ahh"

"Ariadne" The girl smiled "and it's alright Eames explained that you were probably just freaked out that we had broken into your apartment"

"Well actually, I thought you were the mafia or something, see they came after me a while back and I had no idea why" I explained

"The Mafia? Seriously, shit I would have thought that they would have left you alone after…" Eames cut himself off not wanting to bring up bad memories

"Yeah, it's all good. Now I remember what I did to piss them off so I know how I can avoid them" I smiled

"So what exactly does an empathizer do? Sorry but I'm still quite new to this whole extraction/inception thing" Ariadne asked

"Inception? That's impossible!" I stated looking at Eames "When we tried it, it didn't take"

"We figured it out, and that's what we will be doing here, but we will need you, are you up for it?" Eames asked me

"Inception? Hell yes! I've always wanted to see it work, to make it work" I exclaimed in excitement

"That's great and everything but what do you do again?" Ariadne asked again

"Oh right, Well everyone's subconscious is somewhat guarded when it comes to dreams. It can only take a little while until things start to get nasty, especially when the person has had training to protect themselves from extraction. That is where I come in, There are several methods that can be used to calm ones subconscious, In the real world meditation and some fragrances can be used, but in dreams the best way is with repetition or music" I explained to her

"Music? Really" She asked raising an eyebrow

"Yeah, say that your listening to a really sad song, not just having it play in the background, I mean really listening to the point where you hear each single word and can analyze the lyrics" I waited for her to nod before continuing

"Well you know how that song changes how you're feeling, It makes you feel really sad even though you don't know why, you know they say that when you are sad you shouldn't listen to sad songs cause they will make you feel worse" I noticed that she was starting to get it so I stopped explaining

"Did you know that plants grow better when you play them classical music" Eames stated with a smirk, obviously trying to get a rise out of me

"I remember reading that somewhere" Ariadne commented not noticing that Eames was just fooling around.

"So tell me more about what I've let you guys drag me into" I commanded

"Well" Eames begun "This is the plan"…


	4. Chapter 3 Dreaming of Passion

A/N: okay so this one is shorter than the last two because not only do you find out a little more about oc and Arthurs past but I also let you in on the plan :D so obviously my brain isn't as amazing as Christopher Nolan, which means that the plan isn't quite as amazing as the one from inception. But it still has three lvels etc. Anywho read and review

Disclaimer: I don't own inception because Christopher Nolan does. I do however own a toothbrush, a whole bunch of clothes and my bed..oh and my oc ;P

* * *

**Chapter Three- Dreaming of Passion**

"_In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities"-Janos Aranay_

* * *

_Arthur was dreaming. He knew this so well and yet he couldn't remove his eyes from the beauty that lay naked in front of him. Her skin was a pearly white and so, so smooth to touch. Her black hair contrasted this and also had the odd tint of a darker blue running through it that could only be seen noticeably when she was standing under direct sunlight. _

"_What's wrong, love?" The woman asked him sitting up to join him _

_He relaxed when she wrapped her arms around him,_

"_You're sure that you're pregnant?" He asked wincing at the tone of his voice_

"_Yes Arthur I am sure, two tests and the fact that I'm late by nearly a month now is making me very certain" She frowned "Didn't you want this? You said to me that while you may not be able to marry me because you don't want me to be in danger from all the people you're on the run from. But you want to spend the rest of your life with me and have me as the mother of your children"_

"_Yes, I did and I am happy, hell I'm in pure bliss that we are going to have a child together, I'm just surprised is all" Arthur calmed her_

_The woman smiled and pulled him into another kiss._

"_Then stop worrying and take me" She stated, lust was thick in her voice_

_Arthur smirked as he pushed her so that she was lying on the bed again._

"_I love you" She whispered in his ear_

"_I love you to, Ebony" _

* * *

Arthur woke up and removed the IV from his arm, sometimes he wished that the sedative would be to powerful and would trap him forever in those few great memories he held close to his heart. But he doubted that it would ever happen.

Arthur got dressed and walked into the kitchen hoping that a coffee would help him shake the sleepiness left over from the sedative.

"Sup?" Ariadne asked him as she pulled her breakfast from the toaster and made a move towards the kitchen table.

"Nothing" he replied, he didn't want to go into detail over what he did in his spare time. After he had heard what she had reacted when she found out about Mal, Arthur doubted that she would find what he was reliving in the dream machine very healthy. Especially when the real Ebony was sitting at the kitchen table staring off into nothing as she prodded her breakfast cereal with a fork.

"Did you want me to get you a spoon Eb?" Arthur asked, reverting back to her old nickname

She shook herself from whatever she was thinking of and looked up at him

"Sorry what?" she asked, confused

"Spoon?" Arthur repeated

"Oh, no thanks, I've had a lot of bad experiences with finding the milk in my cereal to be off. So a fork is better" she told him before drifting back into her thoughts.

Arthur shrugged and sat down at the table with his coffee. Today was going to be along day.

* * *

I looked to where Arthur was sitting and felt a blush creep onto my cheeks, what I had dreamt last night had been so intimate, so passionate, that I had no idea how to act in front of him. The worst part was that I could tell that it was a memory. I prodded at my cereal again and moved my thoughts to the plan that Eames had come up with.

Ronald Parson, owner of the lead gold trading company from this side of the globe, was our target. Arthur's research had discovered that Ronald had divorced his wife of 20 years when a young beauty queen, that was the face of Parson's company, had insisted that he marry her or she would leak all the trade secrets she had discovered from the company.

Parson was a very gentle man according to friends and family, he had no idea what to do so he divorced his current wife and married the woman as she wanted. He and his new wife had only been together for a short time.

The first level of the dream, which Adrianne would be dreaming, was to be an art expedition for the heights of society. On this level Eames would be Parson's old wife and he would try to rekindle the romance that the elderly couple apparently still felt for one another. Parsons own feelings of his new wife would make his subconscious project her to be violent and full of hatred toward him and Eames/Parsons old wife.

On the second level, Arthur's dream, we would be at Parson's holiday home in Fiji. Eames would appear as Parsons son while Arthur and I would be hired help there to protect Parson and his old wife from the new wife who would appear to be coming after the Parson family with armed men so that she could kill them and claim the company as her own.

The third level, Eames's dream, we would be appearing in a hospital similar to the one where Parson's mother had died, Parson had been on his way to the hospital from the other side of the world but when he had arrived his mother was already dead. Arthur had discovered that his mother's motto was to 'follow your heart'. We could only hope that the projection of his mother would feel the same way.

"Ebony I am going to take you into the dream world today so that you can practice you empathizer skills" Arthur told me as he got up and to his cup to the sink.

"Alright" I replied and followed him to the sink with my bowl.

Arthur led the way to his room where the dream machine was waiting for us. He shut the door behind us before he grabbed me and slammed me against his door.

"Ow, what the…" Arthur cut me off with one of his mind blowing kisses. I moaned into the kiss and Arthur took it as an opportunity to thrust his tongue into my mouth. Our tongues battled against one another as Arthur lifted my legs up and wrapped them around his waist. He broke the kiss and his lips moved to my neck. He moved against me in a rhythm that was going to make me explode.

"Arthur ngh" I panted, he stopped moving and pecked me on the lips once more before setting me down and disentangling himself from the embrace.

"Sorry" He murmured "I couldn't help myself"

"Th…that's alright" I stuttered, I could barely think and didn't want to move because my legs felt like jelly.

Once I was composed I moved towards the bed and sat down next to Arthur. He put the IV into my arm and I shuddered.

"What is it?" He asked me

"The last time I was connected to this machine I had to say goodbye to you for what I thought would be forever" I explained

A look of pain flashed across his face and I instantly regretted what I had said.

"Well that's not going to happen this time" he stated

I lay down opposite to him and he reached and pushed the button on the machine. The sedative was released and I could feel myself relaxing, all the tenseness that had been caused by our moment on his door disappeared from my body and I could feel my eyes getting heavy. I closed them and let sleep take over…


	5. Chapter 4 Dreaming Up Nightmares

And chapter 4 is complete. yay (throw mini party in the back of my mind). So today I watched (500) days of summer, and completely fell in love with it. All you Joseph Gorden Levitt fans out there that haven't seen it... I highly recomend that you do... not to mention that if I get bored enough i will probably try and write a fanfic for it (no promises tho) have you noticed that there are only 13 fanfics for that movie in the archives o.o I mean woooow I was expecting to be flabergasted with like 50 billion one-shots...and theres like nothing there... (only one M rated one o.o and that only has one chapter in it)... so anyway sorry for getting sidetracked . happens to often trust me... this is chappie 4 read and review (cause I'm a review whore)

Disclaimer: I don't own Inception... what you were expecting me to say something else here o.O whaddya take me for a comedian D:

* * *

**Chapter Four- Dreaming Up Nightmares**

"_History,' Stephan said 'Is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake"-James Joyce_

* * *

We were sitting in a seedy-looking bar, cigarette smoke clung to the furniture as well as hanging in the air.

"I want you to practice manipulating emotion via the subconscious, then we will move onto calming my sub conscious once it has noticed that something is up" Arthur instructed, he was so calm despite what had happened only moments before

"Alright" I told him as I got up and moved toward the dimly lit stage that the room centered around. I was no architect so the room was simple and quite small. But I liked it because to some degree it was to a point, it was like the room stated 'you are here to listen to me play I don't care why just sit down and shut up'

Stepping out onto the stage I let a small smile grace my features as a projection of Arthur's subconscious announced me to the audience. I couldn't help but notice that the announcement was a little too flattering.

I moved my fingers to the keys of the piano that had appeared on the stage and checked that the microphone was in the right place before beginning my song.

A haunting melody begun from the piano and I matched my vocals to song that seeped directly from my soul. Playing music in dreams isn't like how you pay it in real life. No, it's more like playing the actual emotion that you need to get across. The stronger the emotion is the easier it is to portray, the more complex the emotion the more difficult it is for the subconscious to pick up.

Grief, longing, sorrow, and apologetic, I bundled all these emotions up into a dramatic song that I played for Arthur. I could almost see the emotion as Arthur's subconscious absorbed it and sent it directly to Arthur. It overtook his true emotions and broke down the emotionless mask he always held on his face.

I brought the song to an end making sure that I didn't overdo the emotion. The last thing I wanted was for Arthur to become suicidal. It's strange just how much power emotion has over a person, in less than two minutes I had left Arthur completely incapacitated with grief. Judging by the look on his face and the way that he was almost hugging himself, he wouldn't be able to move, fight back against someone or even care if someone held him at gun point. It was nauseating to see him like this and know that I had caused it.

Of course to have pumped this much emotion into his subconscious in such a short amount of time had drawn the projections attention to me. If I wasn't trying to make a situation that I would have to reverse, I would have played many songs each with a subtle amount of emotion in them.

In fact it was almost like inception, except that it was only effective while the mark was dreaming, I was used on many occasions to make the mark feel more trusting, or even loose mouthed so that instead of having to actually look for a safe that contained the Marks secrets, they would just tell us everything we needed to know.

Sighing I got up from the piano and moved to a chair that handily had an acoustic guitar sitting innocently beside it. In reality I couldn't play the guitar, only the piano, but in the dream world that didn't matter. I could play anything I could dream of, excuse the bad pun.

I gently strummed the guitar to assure that it was in tune, a pointless habit considering the guitar was always tuned perfectly to my needs. Getting into a rhythm with my strums I played a happier almost goofy song.

In order to hide myself from Arthur's subconscious I had to send the reverse of the emotion I had sent in the beginning but of course do it far more subtly. In other words I was sending joy, contentment, happiness and forgiveness, all in one big confusing bundle.

This time it took several songs to send the message across to Arthur completely. I could tell that I had gone slightly over the top with the last song when Arthur greeted me at the side of the stage and pulled me into a hug.

"God I love you" he murmured burying his face in my neck.

"Alright Arthur" I sighed "It's time to wake up"

"Not yet can't we just stay like this, I'm so happy, Ebony, I'm so happy" he looked down at me with puppy dog eyes

I sighed and hugged him back slightly after checking my watch

3…2…1

I woke up and pulled the IV out of my arm and looked over at Arthur who was only just waking up. Arthur pulled an IV out of his vein and looked over to me with a slight scowl

"Alright your skills are still there and you still have that tendency to go over the top, try and pull back a little during the job" he told me

And then he got up and left the room, I sighed and followed him out only to run into his back.

"Arthur what…?" I begun to ask then looked around the room.

"Nice of you to join us" a feminine Italian accent rung out around the room

Before I could do anything Arthur was knocked out and a wet cloth was pressed to my mouth _shit, chloroform_ I tried to fight back but it was too late and my consciousness faded…

* * *

_It was a sunny day, the sky was a clear blue except for the occasional white puff of clouds a light breeze made the weather perfect. I was sitting on a tartan picnic rug in a white cotton dress._

"_Eww, I hate white" I said to myself_

"_Well that's a shame cause I think you look stunning" Arthur commented_

_I turned to face him and saw him sitting beside me, with a little boy on his lap._

"_Who…?" I questioned, looking down at the child _

"tch, you don't even recognize your own son" Arthur laughed

_He moved the child so that he was lying on his back,_

"_Isn't mummy silly? Tommy, hmm, isn't she funny" Arthur asked tickling the boy, who giggled contentedly._

"_Can I hold him?" I asked, my voice catching in my throat_

_Arthur smiled and held Tommy out to me. I moved to take him and Arthur's smile widened _

"_You know I've always loved that ring on you" he told me placing a kiss on my cheek._

_I took Tommy from Arthur and cradled him_

"_Well, now, you're holding him wrong" Arthur scowled _

"_What?" I asked him confused_

"_Look at what you've done" Arthur hissed_

_I looked down to Tommy and cried out dropping him. The ghastly creature crawled towards me spiders crawling from his sunken eyes and a maggot clutching desperately from the corner his decaying mouth_

"_Mummy" the thing gurgled_

"_Yes Tommy, Isn't mommy silly?" I looked at Arthur who also resembled a decaying corpse, the skin beneath his left eye, that was now grey as if he was blind, was drooping showing part of his skull. A grey tongue that was riddled with holes and various flesh eating bugs ran over his dead lips. A sharp pain emitted around my ring finger and I looked at my hand to see that the diamond wedding ring had become a dangerous loop of rusted barbed wire._

"_And you know what we do to silly mummy's don't you, Tommy" Corpse Arthur smirked_

_I backed away, only to have him grab my leg and pull me back to him. I choked as tears streamed down my cheeks and I tried again to escape from the horror I was witnessing._

"_Silly mummy" Tommy gurgled as he swept a decaying hand through my hair_

_Arthur grinned and pulled me up flush against him_

"_I really did like that ring on you" He whispered running his decaying tongue over my ear. He pulled back with a laugh sink his teeth into my neck._

_I screamed… _


	6. Chapter 5 Dreaming Up Disaster

Hey guys, sorry for the late update. I wish I had an excuse as to why I took so long to get this chapter up but alas I do not TT_TT In case your wondering i am safe from the QLD floods (while I live in QLD luckily I was not in an area that was affected) My heart and well wishes go out to all those that were affected. So laziness is my excuse . I know... I suck V.V especially considering that apart from work and a little bit of cosplay I have been sleeping in and then moving to the couch to watch tv before going back to sleep :P school is starting in a couple of days so my upload rate will definatley be slower (I'm doing 6 OP subjects so failing is not an option) but I promise that I will try my hardest to keep updating at lest 3 times a month... I hope. I already know where I want this story to go I have the last chapter planned out as well as the path I want the characters to take in order to get there. All that I am doing is fleshing my ideas out so that they actually make sense... does that make sense? anywho I'm gonna let you get onto reading now ;P

Disclaimer: I don't own Inception because if I did the world would be mine MINE I TELL YOU! Mwahahahahahahahaha *cough* *cough*

enjoy~

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Chapter five – Dreaming up Disaster

"_The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened."- ?_

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"Uhn, My head" I groaned as consciousness pulled me from my nightmare.

"Ah, one of the many side effects of getting kidnapped, darling" Eames chuckled.

He always did know how to make fun of a serious situation. I opened my eyes to the pale yellow room that we were being held in and I scowled up at the flickering fluorescent light that I knew would annoy the hell out of me until I managed to escape or we were let go. My hands were tied behind my back with a plastic zip lock that was digging into my skin leaving shallow cuts.

We were sitting on the ground, Ariadne cuddled up in the corner and Eames sitting between us. Arthur was nowhere to be seen  
"Where's Arthur?" I questioned in alarm, I remembered how they had knocked him out and begun to worry that they may have accidently killed him.

"That Italian woman took him to another room, Oh god; I hope she isn't torturing him" Adriane told me concern deep in her eyes.

"That Italian woman is called Ileana and I doubt that she's torturing him" Eames snorted looking down

"Ileana? Who the fuck is Ileana?"I asked him shuffling closer to where he was sitting against the wall.

"They had a thing after you two, well, after you left. He was pretty messed up about it, and he sought out regular company. Worst female in the world if you ask me, I swear that she's bloody insane, but she was one of the ones that lasted more than a night. " Eames explained

"Oh" I answered annoyed. Of course I knew that he had seen other women after I had left, Arthur was Arthur, and Arthur was not the type of man who would stay monogamous to a memory.

There was a sound at the door and a bulky man walked into the room, followed by the late wife of our mark, Mr. Parson.

"Nice to see that you are all awake and well" the blonde bimbo smiled at us "Of course if you don't answer my questions the last bit about your wellbeing will be changed dramatically"

"What do you want, lady? And where's our point man?" Eames grunted at her

"Oh that charming young man, Ileana always talks about? They are… well let's just say they are catching up" The woman, Vanessa, replied the plastic smile not once leaving her features.

"Now onto my questions, who is your employer?" she asked

"Can't say sorry love" Eames replied with a smile "We work so many jobs nowadays that, well, names mean so little and are so easily forgotten"

I looked at Ariadne hoping that she wouldn't say anything; she told me that she was new to this line of work and considering who she worked with I doubted she had ever been in this situation. They may torture us, starve us and quite possibly kill us, but if we told them who we were employed by we would be in a lot more trouble. Especially if the employer was as powerful as Eames said he was, we wouldn't be the only ones in danger our employer would destroy our entire families.

"Hmm, well then if you can't remember I guess I will just have jolt your memory" She told us, a small pout taking over her features "Jones"

The bulky man who went by Jones walked over to Eames and cracked his knuckles. A smirk ran across his face at the small sigh that Eames let out.

"Damn and I was hoping to get through this one with no bruises" He muttered

"Wait!" Ariadne called out as Jones pulled his fist back and aimed at Eames's face

"Well?" the woman asked turning her focus to Ariadne facing her back to me

"I…umm…well" Ariadne stuttered her glance going from Jones to Eames and then back at Vanessa.

Taking my chance I took a quick glance to ensure that Jones wasn't paying attention to anyone but Eames and I aimed a kick at the side of Vanessa's knee. I heard an audible crack coming from the joint and jumped to my feet.

Jones landed the hit to Eames's face and the turned around to face me, while Vanessa screeched at him to kill me. Unable to use my hands I went for dodging the big guy until I managed to trip him. Eames staggered over to the man who was trying to get back up and landed a kick to his head.

"Eye for an eye, darling" He muttered before he spat out some blood. A nasty bruise was already forming around his swelling eye.

"Good job Ariadne" I smiled, she had probably been about to tell Vanessa everything, but in doing so she had given me the opportunity to enable our escape.

Ariadne nodded shaking and followed me out of the room. We were in a condo of some sorts and judging by the amount of empty beer cans on the counter in the kitchen, there were plenty more hired thugs hanging around. I walked into the empty kitchen grabbed a knife off the sink.

With some difficulty, and a few minor cuts, I managed to force the knife beneath the zip lock and release my hands. I freed Eames and Ariadne before pocketing the knife. It wouldn't protect me from bullets but it made me feel better to know that I could still cause some damage if I needed to.

"Well lets go" I mentioned to Eames who nodded and turned to the door

"Wait what about Arthur?" Ariadne called out to us and we turned to face her

"Arthur can save himself; no doubt he is already doing so with Ileana" Eames told her

"Yeah but he may wind up where we were cause we escaped" Ariadne argued

Eames sighed and Ariadne smile knowing she had won the small dispute.

The three of us begun to sneak through the house in search of Arthur

"He has to be here somewhere" Ariadne scowled

A groan came from down the hallway along with the sounds of a door being closed and a shower being turned on.

I cleared my throat and tried to ignore the angry blush that was crawling across my neck and cheeks

Ariadne looked at me in understanding, a light blush coating her cheeks as well, then looked at Eames

"Can you get him, neither of us want to see that…again" She whispered to him

Eames snorted and moved off towards the noise and soon returned with a partially dressed Arthur who was struggling to walk and was holding onto Eames for support.

"He's been drugged" Eames told us motioning towards Arthur who did look rather out of it.

"Tch. Let's just go" I snarled in anger and jealousy

"Where to?" Ariadne asked walking beside me as Eames followed behind us half carrying the drugged point man.

"Paris" I told her with a smile "Let's go to Paris"


End file.
